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Bekken Gall
"Like 'beck and call?'" - Rachel, inquiring about the name Played By: ManyFacedOne Class: Fighter Race: Human Alignment: LN Status: Alive Favored Weapon: Longsword Favored Spell: NA Appearance Bekken is a medium-built human standing 5'7" and weighing 155 pounds. She has blond hair often braided and pinned into a swirl at the base of her head to fit into helmets and stay out of her light brown eyes. She appears to be in her mid- to late 30s. A large scar mars her abdomen from the wound that nearly killed her, as well as several lesser scars all over from her time in the city guard and with her bonded. She cannot remember receiving the latter, but she is self-conscious about all of them and prefers clothing that will conceal them. As she does her best work in armor, this is generally the case. Back Story Bekken was the first child to a poor mother and a father who abandoned them to marry into a wealthier family. Her mother loathed him afterward and ensured that Bekken knew who he was, going out of her way to point him out to her. Bekken came to realize that her mother probably hurt so badly over his betrayal because of how much she had once loved him. This love left with him; her mother had many men who came and went, leaving Bekken with many half-siblings. She helped raise her siblings until her sister was old enough to do so and she to work. They progressed in this order for some time, the young also being sent out to beg. Though many of her mother's men suggested selling them to reduce her burden and turn a profit, her mother refused. Bekken thought this was her mother's care for them and admired her for it before learning that she was actually afraid of the law finding out (child slavery, though not adult slavery, was then illegal). However, Bekken wondered if that was true, for she never abandoned them, and the only man she ever kicked out was the one who sold one of Bekken's brothers. As an adolescent, Bekken began training as a city guard. When she was a junior member, the controversy over legalizing child slavery heated up. The guard stretched thin, junior members were assigned to help keep peace at protests, one of which saw Toivoton Syvyys (Toni) speaking against it. A brief riot broke out, and, after order was restored, Bekken saw Toni administering healing to the injured on both sides. One of the slavery supporters attacked her, and Bekken saved her and stayed by her side to protect her from other attacks while she healed people. Offering her dinner in appreciation, Toni spoke at length with her about her work and offered to sponsor the impoverished guard. Bekken found her best friend that day. A few years later, she almost died in her best friend's arms. A raid on a blackmarket down the street from Toni's church nearly cost her life. As death approached, Bekken confessed the great loyalty she felt toward her. This loyalty allowed her to save Bekken, using an obscure form of magic based on necromancy and loyalty to catch a soul that would usually be too close to death to save. Though Bekken nearly succumbed and even experienced the pull of the afterlife, she finally revived in Toni's arms but another place. However, she was not the same; the magic was imperfect, and what Toni was able to catch of her soul bound itself to hers. She could not leave her side without feeling it rend, which led to physical illness (shortness of breath, retching and vomiting as distance increased). Their relationship was not the same, either: Bekken felt a compulsion to serve Toni, meeting all of her wants and needs. Time seemed to pass differently while Bekken was bonded to Toni. She would not recall vast amounts of time, as if she had not been conscious for a while. When she was aware, she noticed changes in her friend: she became increasingly negative, even hateful, but only sad toward Bekken. The distance apart she could be from her bonded increased, as did the number of voices in her head (from zero to eight), for Toni was strengthening her damaged soul by adding eight others to it. Still, she remained dependent on a bond. The last clear day in Bekken's memory is when Toni transferred binding to another, tasking them with taking her infant daughter to a surrogate mother. This reminded Bekken of their friendship before her near-death, close and full of trust. She adored the baby, not just as her friend's child, but also as a symbol of her trust. Afterward, Bekken transferred bonded many times, though her memories of each disappeared with each transfer. Only Toni stayed in her memory, though she has recorded memories in the form of a journal, tasked to her to write in by a past bonded named A. Tarrow, with whom she fell in love before being transferred to another. The last entry mentions the bonded after him, Delas, and how Bekken planned to use the journal as a guide to her condition, especially as she discovered amnesia as one of its effects. Personality Bekken lives to serve the law, that law being the command of her bonded. She is loyal and protective, to the point that she will place her bonded's needs and desires before her life. The only order she will not carry out is to harm a child, as Toni's greatest order to her was never to do so. It is the highest law, given by one superior to any other bonded. She is haunted by nightmares, generally distortions of the night she almost died. This experience, or the transition sequence from which she was recovered, also resulted in her fear of reanimated corpses. Some of her nightmares are memories of the other souls melded with hers. These souls also speak in her mind, some being disturbing and others saddening. One of these she recognizes as belonging to Toni's son. All of them, she notices, are familiar with Toni, and some make her question what she knows of her best friend. Crude and direct before her incident, she is polite and subservient to her bonded and unintentionally aloof to others, her focus being on the former. Her tastes are still rough, the hallmarks of her childhood and days as a guard, but as she often wishes to impress her bonded, she has developed a tendency toward shyness if she perceives herself as being not up to par with the standard of her bonded. This is increased if she develops amorous feelings toward the bonded (as determined in-game by a coin toss). Beliefs Other than a few parentally-required offerings to a god of the poor and guard-tradition offerings to a god of protection, Bekken does not follow a religion. While she knows there is an afterlife (she experienced being pulled to it, after all), she believes that dependence on another to take care of her will result in disappointment. She grew up depending almost entirely on herself and guarded her city with only her fighting ability to keep her from the afterlife, and she continues to rely only on herself to chart her life, though she knows it is far from in her control. This is not a problem to her, however, as she believes that her bonded should be served, that their word is law, and that the law must be obeyed. Fighting Style Train as a guard to serve and protect, using offense only when needed, Bekken is predominantly defensive, using her shield to guard herself and her bonded. Even her sword is used more for blocking than for attacking, though her strikes with either are strong. Should she ever use her sword without her shield, she is much more vicious, as evidenced by using two hands rather than one. This is generally due to situations in which the only was she can defend is to defeat the opposition. Protecting is her way. Condition The following list serves as a basic outline of how Bekken's condition functions. It is not the same for all people who undergo this recovery of their souls. * Bekken's "soul" is a conglomeration of fractured souls, nine in total. Bekken's own is the dominant piece, but even hers is not whole; part of it is no longer in the plane of the living. To compensate for its lack, her soul bonds to another. This bond makes her subservient to the host soul, a drone to a sovereign, as it were. * A curious effect this produces is Bekken's need to stay close to her bonded: physical distance tugs at her nonphysical soul, producing very physical effects (gasping, retching, outright vomiting). The eight soul fragments added to hers strengthen her soul and help her withstand greater distance than when she was first recovered, but she still must have and remain near a bonded. If her soul were stretched too far, it is speculated that her bonds would snap and each piece of her soul would fade into death, likely going to whichever plane that fragment was heading before being stopped. * If she were attached to a bonded who died, however, her soul would be dragged by that of the bonded into whatever plane of afterlife the bonded goes. If, there, the bonded were to transfer her bond to someone else, however, she would go to her new bonded. * Transferring is easy; telling Bekken that a specified person is her new bonded, or telling a person that Bekken is now theirs, will cause it. * Another spoken command, dismissing Bekken, will cause her to vanish and reside within the bonded, souls together. She is not conscious during this time. * Bekken forgets each past bonded as soon as she is transferred. Only her time with Toni is remembered. Relationships with Other Characters [[Toivoton Syvyys|'Toivoton Syvyys']]: Toni is Bekken's best friend, so close one might think they were either lovers or enemies. Bekken saved her from an enraged slavery supporter; Toni sponsored Bekken as a guard. When Bekken almost died, Toni turned to obscure and difficult magic based on necromancy and loyalty to save her. She was unable to save her fully, however, and became her first bonded until she transferred binding to one of her slaves, with orders to take her baby to a barbarian woman. All of the souls used to strengthen Bekken have memories of Toni, which can sometimes be confusing or alarming for her. Sonrisa Day: Toni's daughter, Bekken transported her as an infant to her new home. Bekken views this as a sign of Toni's trust and of their enduring friendship. [[Alexander Stonefist|'Alexander Stonefist']]: A former bonded ranger, Bekken is not bound to him long enough to form much opinion on the man, other than stoic. She does not remember him. Tyrion Sanguinis: A paladin bonded, Bekken thinks favorably of him and wishes to develop a closer relationship with him. However, when she tells this to someone who is later revealed to be a demon, it costs her any chance of becoming closer. The demon takes her words as a deal, and paladins do not like those who make deals with demons. Appears In * the OS where a girl was possessed by a demon * the OS where the party's souls were stolen by demons Category:Player Characters Category:ManyFacedOne